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It's commonly known that chocolate can be toxic to dogs, but did you know that some types of dark-colored mulch contain similar ingredients to chocolate? Cocoa mulch can be harmful to dogs if they eat it, and it doesn't take much for a dog to eat mulch, as I recently learned.
What is Cocoa Mulch?
Cocoa mulch is also known as cocoa shell mulch, cocoa bean mulch, and cocoa bean hull mulch. It's made of shells of cocoa beans just as pine bark mulch is made of the bark of pine trees. It is preferred by some people because it darkens, rather than fades, with age. It also lasts a long time and smells like chocolate.
Supposedly cats are deterred by the scent of cocoa mulch, although I found no research to back this up. (Nobody likes the smell of cat urine in the garden – I've found some granules that can be sprinkled around that keep the cats away for awhile.)
What is Chocolate Toxicity?
Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine -- stimulants that are harmful to pets. Ingestion can cause symptoms ranging from gastrointestinal upset to increased heart rate, tremors, seizures, and even death. Various systems are stressed by these chemicals, including the kidneys and central nervous system.
How much theobromine does it take to make your dog sick? Of course, that depends on your dog, but most sources estimate it at about 100-150 mg/kg. Baker's chocolate (the kind used in recipes, not for eating straight out of the package) has the highest concentration at 390 mg/oz. Milk chocolate has 44 mg/oz, and semisweet has 150 mg/oz.
Has My Dog Been Poisoned?
Using the estimates above, here are some toxic doses of chocolate:
- A 10 pound terrier that's eaten 10 oz of milk chocolate (1 oz/pound)
- A 21 pound beagle that's eaten 7 oz of semisweet chocolate (1 oz/3 pounds)
- A 90 pound lab that's eaten 10 oz of baker's chocolate (1 oz/9 pounds)
The same amounts of milk and semisweet chocolate for the lab would not be toxic, but they would upset him.
Is Cocoa Mulch Toxic?
Cocoa mulch contains anywhere from 300 to 1,200 mg/oz of theobromine. This makes it even stronger than baker's chocolate; therefore, it certainly sounds toxic to dogs!
Most dogs won't eat mulch, but if you have a curious or "hungry" dog like I do, you never know. My dog ate away at some mulch in our yard for weeks because some cooking oil had been spilled on it. We finally had to cover the area with a tarp and some stones. The mulch alone was enough to make her sick, let alone if chocolate had been added to the equation. It would probably be best to keep cocoa mulch out of the yard where pets are present.
Resources:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp
http://www.nationalcocoashell.com/faq/
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/cocoa-mulch-toxicity/page1.aspx
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Re: Cocoa Mulch and Toxicity in Pets
